Stephen Eric Bronner, Afghanistan’s Footprint

By Stephen Eric Bronner In Memory of Stanley Aronowitz ormer secretary of state Colin Powell’s “pottery barn rule” applies: “You break it, you own it!” Perhaps: but then you can always throw “it” away. That’s what occurred in Afghanistan, known as “the graveyard of empires” because it has historically been difficult to govern and more difficult to conquer. The United States sent in a raiding party to capture Osama bin Laden following 9/11/2001 and then, like “the man who came to dinner,” remained for 20 years – just long enough…